September, climate change and ice mummies in the Sierra

Ten years ago, I wrote my favorite two paragraphs about climate change. And I didn’t even mention those two words:

“Authorities Wednesday gingerly removed an ice-entombed body believed to be a World War II airman who was frozen 63 years in a Kings Canyon National Park glacier, and flew it to a Fresno airport for coroner's officials.

“Only a frozen head, shoulder and arm were visible when it was spotted on Mount Mendel by two climbers last weekend. About 80% of the body was believed to be hidden within the Mount Mendel Glacier.”

What a story. Who knew there were ice mummies east of Fresno? Who even thinks about glaciers near Fresno? They’re not very big glaciers, of course. The ones in Alaska are monsters by comparison. And the Sierra’s glaciers are fast disappearing.

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It’s the tale of two ice mummies in the southern Sierra Nevada – bodies of airmen who died just days before “Casablanca” premiered in late 1942.

Army searchers looked for the bodies in the rugged Mendel cirque around 12,500 feet and came up with nothing. In the early 1940s, the ice and snow were just too deep. But by 2005, the two bodies and parts of the plane had appeared as ice melted.

What a story. Who knew there were ice mummies east of Fresno? Who even thinks about glaciers near Fresno? They’re not very big glaciers, of course. The ones in Alaska are monsters by comparison. And the Sierra’s glaciers are fast disappearing.

Still, what a thrilling and chilling place to watch the climate change around here.

Every September, I find myself wondering what it looks like on Mendel, especially now after four years of drought and warmth. For me, there’s more than imagination involved. I went to Mount Mendel for a story after the grisly discoveries.

In September seven years ago, I climbed Mendel Glacier with former Bee photographer Mark Crosse. We saw an engine, a wing and debris clearly linked to this tragic crash.

We didn’t see bodies. There had been four people on that ill-fated flight, so there may be two more ice mummies. One body was found by the climbers in 2005. The other was discovered by author Peter Stekel, who searched the glacier after the story broke about the first body.

We didn’t see bodies. There had been four people on that ill-fated flight, so there may be two more ice mummies. One body one was found by the climbers in 2005. The other was discovered by author Peter Stekel, who searched the glacier after the story broke about the first body.

In 2008, Crosse and I climbed with Stekel, who was writing about his discovery. Using satellite navigation, he went to the area where he found one of the engines. It had moved 50 to 100 feet in one year. Glaciers are in motion.

At the time of our story, former Bee reporter Cyndee Fontana and I were writing a series about aviation hazards in the Sierra. But climate change hit me over and over as we boulder-scrambled on the talus slope to Mendel Glacier.

I had seen photographs of Mendel from the 1940s when Army searchers first looked for the bodies. This looked nothing like that.

It was still a brutal alpine wilderness, wind-blasted and strewn with crumbled granite that falls from eerie spires hundreds of feet above the glacier. Boulders stick out of the ice in every direction.

Melting ice forms braided streams around the boulders. Even in a warm early September trip, it was freezing up there as shadows stretched across the ice and little breezes picked up.

The Army finally found the plane wreckage in 1947. The nose was sticking out of the ice, but that’s about all they could see. By 2008, you could see both of the plane’s engines sitting atop the ice.

Maybe four drought years have revealed something else up there at this point. We won’t know without taking another look.

About Mark Grossi

Mark Grossi has the pulse of the San Joaquin Valley ecosystem, writing since 1993 about subjects such as the region's notorious air quality, the restoration of the San Joaquin River and unhealthy drinking water in rural towns. Twitter: @markgrossi Mark retired from The Bee in October 2015.